Richmond Fencing Club has molded budding fencers since JFK was president and humankind had just turned its eyes to the moon. Today, three instructors—each with their own titles from the Virginia Division Championships—helm the educational efforts, overseeing a program that educates students as young as 6 in the foot- and bladework required to wield a fencing foil competitively.

They teach in a no-nonsense facility, its cinderblock walls decorated only with pegs to hang fencing equipment, its smooth hardwood floors interrupted only by well-worn fencing lanes. The fencing-dedicated space keeps elaborately uniformed students cool with central air conditioning instead of replacing helmets with ice buckets like lesser establishments.